


breaking nightmare

by buckybear (antoniohiggins)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ashes Scene in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Clint Barton-centric, Clint and Laura Barton's Family, F/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), author loves clint barton ok, barton family-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 16:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16978347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antoniohiggins/pseuds/buckybear
Summary: so this author is very pleased to see clint getting the recognition he deservesanyway, i'm excited for endgame and i kept thinking about this idea so i decided i'd write itit's the shortest thing i've ever written but here's my take on the barton family post-infinity war;)





	breaking nightmare

“Daddy?”

Lila’s voice snapped his attention away from the news broadcast he hadn’t been able to stop watching. For the first time since Germany, the monitor on his ankle felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“Daddy, where’d Nate go?”

An innocent question, but as the news blared statements of alien attacks and random deaths, he feared for the worse. He looked down at his hands where his youngest son had been just seconds ago. All that was left was the blanket he had been swaddled in, now empty of life and filled with dust.

It was like everything was moving in slow motion.

_“Clint!”_

Laura’s voice calling from the second floor of their house sent a chill down his spine as he stood, scooping up Lila into his arms as he ran up the stairs, barreling into his oldest son’s bedroom. Laura was kneeling on the ground beside the small desk Cooper had to do his homework. It was covered with pictures of his family and friends, along with countless figurines of all of his favorite heroes.

Laura was shaking, her hands clamped over her mouth as she rocked back and forth on her knees.

“He’s just gone…” she whispered, staring at the empty chair in disbelief, a thin layer of dust covering it. “One second he was here and then…he was just…gone.”

Clint crossed the room, setting Lila down sinking to his knees beside his wife, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head.

“Mommy!” Lila cried, diving into the hug as well. They didn’t even notice that, when they pulled away, her little arms were no longer around them.

Laura’s face went from heartbroken to absolutely devastated when she noticed. Her husband couldn’t even see the small pile of ashes falling slowly behind him until his wife just collapsed into sobs once more. He frantically looked behind him, pressing his fingers into the dust as it sank into the carpet, tears falling down his cheeks and onto his hands.

His head was spinning, he knew he had to be dreaming. This couldn’t be possible, there was no way all three of his children could’ve just…evaporated into nothing but a few piles of dust and ashes. His babies just…gone in the blink of an eye. He didn’t even get the chance to see them as they disappeared.

Everything he had was gone. Everything but Laura.

He pulled her into his arms, kissing her quickly before simply burying his face in her neck, holding on so tight as they waited to see if maybe, just maybe, one of them would be next.

“Don’t let this be the end,” she whispered into his ear, a heartbroken whine escaping the man’s lips as he felt the dust settling around his legs. He shut his eyes tight. He held his wife tighter.

Just like that, all four of the people he loved most in the world just…gone in the blink of an eye.

He didn’t want to think about his in-laws or his kids friends or…god, his team.

Nat.

He had to make sure they were okay but…all he hand left of Laura was coating his body in a thin layer of dust that was somehow supposed to hold every part of her entire life.

Still, it was either sit there and wait, hoping and praying that maybe, just maybe, someone would fix this mess without him. He knew his team could do it without him, hell they could always handle things without him.

But he owed it to them.

He owed it to his family.  
He owed it to his wife and his babies that looked at their dad as a hero, not someone that waited for the others to clean up the mess.

He looked to the action figures covering his son’s desk and he knew what he had to do.

He was an avenger after all.

Maybe it was time to do some real avenging.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! comments and kudos would be lovely since i haven't written much marvel stuff before! 
> 
> xoxo, elle


End file.
